Learn how the Man Without Fear started nabbed his first criminal – by riding a trash can?

Brett White

Published

Feb 7, 2014

Updated

Feb 7, 2014

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It's hard to imagine the Marvel Universe without Matt Murdock, but that was the case right before Daredevil's debut 50 years ago this month! Since his debut, the blind lawyer has used his heightened senses and radar power to put kingpins and assassins in their place. Many creative teams have turned in career defining work while telling tales about the street-level hero, with creators like Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, Kevin Smith, Joe Quesada, Ann Nocenti, John Romita Jr., David Mazzucchelli, Frank Miller, and many others all building upon the rock solid foundation laid down by DD's creators, Stan Lee and Bill Everett!

Daredevil #1

DAREDEVIL #1 hit the stands fifty years ago, following in the grand tradition established by Spider-Man's ongoing series just a year before. With the wall-crawler a runaway hit, Marvel wanted to remind wary readers of their successful track record with solo heroes while still touting Daredevil as "different from all other crime-fighters"! The first issue recounts the hero's origin as well as his first mission as a costumed hero. But take a closer look at that caption – judging by those dates, Murdock's a bit older than 50!

Daredevil's origin warns readers to watch out for trucks carrying barely-held-in-place cylinders of radioactive materials. This must have been a real problem in the early 60's!

The spill left young Matt blind, but heightened all of his senses to superhuman levels and granted him an extra radar sense. This turned Murdock into Daredevil, but – judging by those captions – it probably also turned him into a very picky eater.

Counting the grains of salt on pretzels? Okay.

After a crime boss killed Matt's boxing champ father for failing to take a fall, the blind college student transformed himself into Daredevil by taking a needle and thread to his stash of old yellow shirts! Goodbye spring wardrobe, hello crime fighting gear!

Daredevil caught up with the criminals responsible for his father's death and did everything in his power to catch them – and yes, everything did include riding a rolling trash can!

From these humble beginnings, Daredevil grew into one of the most respected and feared heroes in the Marvel Universe. Happy birthday, Daredevil!For more of the Man Without Fear, check out DAREDEVIL!

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Join the Man Without Fear as he stands up for justice! Blind lawyer Matt Murdock protects the streets of Hell's Kitchen by night against dangerous foes like Bullseye and the Kingpin! Includes the classic stories by icon Frank Miller that changed comics forever.

Join the Man Without Fear as he stands up for justice! Blind lawyer Matt Murdock protects the streets of Hell's Kitchen by night against dangerous foes like Bullseye and the Kingpin! Includes the classic stories by icon Frank Miller that changed comics forever.

Happy Birthday Daredevil! You were our daughter's favorite Superhero. She was born blind and used a cochlear implant to hear. We thought she was the Girl Without Fear as she learned to traverse stairs (with her Super Service Dog Acadia), read Braille and communicate by ASL. Thanks for showing the way for the visually impaired!